


Silver Wings

by queermosapien



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fictober 2019, Hospitalization, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 09:27:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20889854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queermosapien/pseuds/queermosapien
Summary: After his divorce, Rhett makes plans for an overseas vacation. Link has a bad feeling about it.(Written as part of Fictober 2019, from the prompt "Now? Now you listen to me?")





	Silver Wings

“… and the hotel is like _steps_ from the beach, man, I’m telling you, I really went all-out with those upgrades. I mean, why not, right? I never really _fly_ anywhere outside of, you know, touring and stuff, so if I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna freakin’ _do it_, you know?” Rhett was pacing around the office, unable to contain his excitement. It had been a long while since his last vacation – definitely before the divorce, anyway – and a trip to the sunny coast of Italy was just what he needed.

“Yeah,” Link said, not turning his eyes from his computer screen.

“Exactly! Man, this is gonna be so great, it’s almost a shame that you won’t be there.”

“Mhmm.”

Rhett narrowed his eyes. “I get the feeling you’re not listening to me.”

“No, I am, I just…” Link pushed his hand through his hair. A crease had formed between his eyebrows. “I don’t know, man, I told you before, I just have this… I dunno if it’s a premonition or what, but I feel like something really bad is gonna happen if you go on this trip.”

Rhett didn’t even bother to hide his snort of derision. “This again? Come on, now.”

“I’m serious, Rhett! I’ve never felt this sense of dread before, I swear to god, this trip is a bad idea.”

“You have a sense of dread about using a public bathroom, buddyroll, I think you just _might _be overreacting here. Besides, the flight leaves in two days, it’s a little late to cancel.”

“I’m not even sayin’ cancel, necessarily, just maybe try and switch to a different flight? Something, I dunno.”

“You’re asking me to change my entire travel plan because you have a ‘bad feeling’, and you somehow don’t see that that’s completely insane? Link, come _on_, I know you’ve been frustrated since Christy–”

Link stood up so fast that his chair rocked on its wheels and nearly tipped. “Don’t you _dare_,” he snarled, “imply that the only reason I am _worried _about you is because of my fucking _ex-wife_. I am not ‘frustrated’ or ‘jealous’ or whatever know-it-all bullshit you wanna throw at me. Have you considered that maybe I’m just trying to _protect_ you, you selfish asshole?”

Rhett straightened, using his height to his advantage as he towered over Link. “Have _you _considered that I, a grown-ass man, do not _need_ your protection? You’re not my father, you’re not my… my _boyfriend_ or whatever, you’re my friend and business partner and that is _it_. Outside of this company, you do not get a say in the choices I make. Do you understand me?”

Link’s eyes were blazing, and Rhett could tell he’d hit a nerve by the way Link almost unconsciously worried the slightly paler skin on his left ring finger. Still, neither man spoke. 

After a long, hard staredown, finally Rhett turned away and headed for the door.

“I’ll be back in two weeks. Stevie has the contact information for the hotel if you need anything.” He paused. “Try not to need anything. I feel like we both need a break.”

He didn’t look back, letting the door close behind him. His stomach hurt.

* * *

Passengers had begun lining up to board and Rhett hadn’t heard a thing from Link. _Good, _he thought, _maybe he finally got the message to mind his damn business._ Even as the words crossed his mind, though, muscle memory had him reaching for his phone to text Link that he was about to take off and that he’d see him soon. It was easy to forget that they weren’t speaking to each other, it happened so rarely. The last time… oddly enough, the last time had also been centred around plane travel.

Rhett didn’t often think of his Slovakia trip these days. A few months abroad had felt like forever when it was happening, but twenty years on it barely registered anymore. The part about that whole summer that stuck in his memory, though, had been Link begging him not to do it, that it was a bad idea, that something would happen. Of course, nothing _had_ happened. He went to Slovakia, he had a good time, made lots of new friends, and Link hadn’t spoken to him once in the whole three months. It wasn’t even like Link had suffered without him, since it had been that summer that he’d asked Christy to marry him. _These things happen,_ Link had said when Rhett returned.

Rhett was big enough to admit it: at the time, he’d been hurt. More than hurt, if he was honest. Anguished. Jealous.

Heartbroken.

It had been twenty years, times had changed, he was more comfortable with his bisexuality now than he had been then. He could now admit freely to himself that yes, he had been quietly in love with his best friend for almost as long as he could remember, and yes, if Link hadn’t been absolutely straight as an arrow, Rhett would have wanted to be with him. But Link _was_ straight as an arrow, and so Rhett had decided long ago to put his feelings aside, bury them under as many “layers” as he could accumulate. After all, these things happen.

_Yeah,_ Rhett thought as he settled into his window seat and stretched out his legs as far as he could. _These things happen._ The rumble of the plane’s engines made a comforting white noise, and Rhett closed his eyes. His stomach hurt.

* * *

When he wakes up, Rhett is not on an airplane, which puzzles him for a moment. He regains his bearings quickly, though; he is sitting in his chair up in their loft, and he can smell tobacco in the air. A voice trails from below, humming a tune he can’t quite make out. Link, working in the office.

Rhett stands, wincing in anticipation of cracking joints that… don’t crack. In fact, he doesn’t feel sore at all despite having slept in his chair for what must have been a long time, at least long enough to enter REM sleep. Weird. Oh well. Better not look a gift horse in the mouth; if his body is suddenly fine with long naps in awkward positions, more’s the better.

Descending the staircase, the tune Link is humming becomes clearer. 

“Silver wings, shining in the sunlight… roaring engines headed somewhere in flight…”

“Hey,” Rhett says, and Link turns. “That’s a weird coincidence, I just had a dream about an airplane.”

“What’re the chances?” Link says with a crooked smile, and gets up from his chair. “Feelin’ okay?”

“Yeah, I think so. Little groggy.”

“Makes sense. Been a long few days since you’ve been sleeping.”

Rhett frowns. “Days? No, I was just taking a nap. What do you mean, days?”

Link, still smiling, doesn’t offer any clarification, and something about the way he looks is… different. Rhett’s sleep-fogged brain tries to decipher it but can’t, somehow. “I was thinking,” Link says, motioning Rhett to sit on the couch, “do you remember Slovakia?”

“Slovakia? Yeah, of course I remember. What about it?”

“Remember how I didn’t want you to go?” Link hands Rhett a cup of tea, and the mug is familiar. Didn’t they toss it three years ago?

“I… yeah, I remember.” Rhett feels weird. Kind of like he’s stoned, but he’s pretty sure he wouldn’t be stoned at work. “You said you had a bad feeling.”

Link sits on the couch beside Rhett. “I wanted you to stay. I was scared I’d lose you.” Weird, Rhett was sure Link’s glasses had changed style ages ago. 

“You were,” Rhett confirms. “I was scared I’d lose you too.” He looks down at his hands. He’s wearing a paper bracelet and doesn’t remember why. “Link, what’s going on?”

Link isn’t smiling anymore. “I was scared I’d lose you,” he repeats, insistently. “I can’t lose you.” His hair is long and shaggy and Rhett’s trying to think clearly but there’s someone outside screaming and he can’t focus.

“This is a dream,” Rhett says in a low voice. “You cut your hair four years ago, Link, you don’t look like this anymore.” Rhett feels like he probably should be panicking but, for some reason, he feels very calm. Who’s screaming?

“Rhett,” Link says, and his voice is trembling. “Rhett, I can’t lose you.”

“This is a dream,” Rhett repeats. He closes his eyes. It’s suddenly so hot. The person outside is still screaming. Are they outside? They sound so close. “This is a dream.”

“Rhett, please, wake up. Please, I love you, I can’t lose you.”

Why is it so hot? His stomach hurts. His head hurts. His bones hurt. _This is a dream. Wake up. Wake up._

_Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake–_

* * *

“–up. Please, Rhett, just wake up. I love you, don’t you know that? I can’t lose you, I just can’t…”

Rhett groaned.

“Rhett?!” Immediately, movement beside him. “Oh my god, Rhett, are you awake? Are you awake?!”

“Ughhh.”

Laughter, but not just laughter. His favourite laughter. Different from usual. An edge of hysteria, just this side of a sob. “Oh my god. I was so worried, Rhett, I thought you were gone, oh my god…”

Rhett cracked his eyes open. The room was far too bright, but there was a silhouette beside him that he’d recognize anywhere. “Hey,” he croaked. “Link.”

“Yes! Yes, Rhett, it’s me, it’s Link, I’m here!”

Rhett blinked a few times, and squeezed the hand that had found his. “Link,” he said again. “What…?”

“I told you not to go on that plane, you stupid son of a bitch!”

The plane. _Silver wings._ “Slovakia?” Rhett said slowly.

“What? No! Well, I mean, yes, but no! No, Rhett, Italy, do you remember?”

Rhett furrowed his brow and tried to piece together the fragments of memory that still floated in his brain. “Thought you’d lose me,” he said. “I… I was mad. Mean.” He squeezed Link’s hand again, and Link squeezed back. “M’sorry. You’re right.”

“As much as I love hearing you say that, what am I right about?” Link asked him.

“Italy. I shoulda… canceled that flight. Switched it.” Rhett shook his head slowly. "Mistake."

That laughter again. “Now? _Now_ you listen to me? Oh my goodness, Rhett, it absolutely figures that it takes you being in a coma for almost a week to finally pay attention to what I have to say.”

Rhett’s eyes were beginning to adjust to the light, and he could at last make out Link’s face. He looked… rough. His facial hair had grown in, black and silver, his eyes were red, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in a year. “You look awful,” Rhett observed.

“You haven’t seen yourself yet, bo. I’m not the one who survived a plane crash.”

Something snagged in Rhett’s mind and demanded attention. “You love me.”

Link stiffened. “What?”

A slow grin spread over Rhett’s face. “You said you love me.”

Link nodded. “I… yes.”

Rhett’s grin broadened. “You _love-_love me?”

Link began to grin back. “Yes.”

“How long?”

“Forever. Why do you think I didn’t want you to go to Slovakia?”

Rhett squeezed Link’s hand once again. “I love you too. Forever.”

They had just enough time to beam adoringly at each other before conversation was cut short by several nurses hurrying into the room, all delighted that their resident giant had finally woken up. After a long few days of tests, sleep, food, more sleep, and a few visitors here and there, Rhett finally got the all-clear to leave the hospital and return home to recuperate in comfort.

“I cannot stress enough how incredibly lucky you are to be alive, Mr McLaughlin,” said the ICU doctor, “especially considering where you were seated. A window in first class is the most dangerous part of a plane when it goes down. To be honest, even a five-day coma is staggeringly good fortune in a situation like this. Someone is really looking out for you.”

Rhett looked at his hands. “Someone was.” _And,_ he thought, _I owe him an apology._


End file.
